The President's Message

Harold Cook, Ph.D.
Teachers College, Columbia University

"The important thing is not to stop questioning."
--Albert Einstein

It is difficult to imagine that four years have flown by since we published
our first issue of the Bulletin. We are fortunate to have Robert Bornstein
as editor of our newsletter, he has done an outstanding job. In this, our
fifth issue, I'd like to bring you up to date regarding the activities
of the Psychoanalytic Research Society and inform you about what is coming
up.

A large and appreciative audience attended our symposium at last Spring's
Divisional Meeting in Santa Monica. Mardi Horowitz provided a comprehensive
overview of the theory, methodology, findings, and implications of his
programmatic research on defense control processes. Donald Spence and Gerald
Aronson, each with a spark of humor, added an extremely thoughtful scientific
and clinical critique of Horowitz's work.

This past year's annual APA meeting in New York was a first for us.
Michael Sperling organized and chaired a symposium featuring the first
recipients of the Psychoanalytic Research Fund's dissertation awards. The
awardees--Michael Prezioso, Stewart Hockenberry and Brian Quinn--presented
their completed dissertation research. Joseph Masling and Robert Bornstein
provided an insightful discussion of these talks, and commented on a number
of issues confronting psychoanalytic researchers. Again, we congratulate
the presenters and look forward to their becoming productive colleagues
and contributors to the scientific enterprise of psychoanalysis.

We have just completed the third round of Psychoanalytic Research Fund
awards, and happily announce and congratulate the recipients:

· Donna H. DiCello, a doctoral student at Antioch New England Graduate
School, for her dissertation proposal Conceptualization of countertransference
disclosure, intimacy and gender: An examination of attitudes of psychoanalyticically-oriented
female clinicians in theory and practice. Her dissertation sponsor
is Theodore T. Ellenhorn, PhD.

· Mary Ellen Griffin, a doctoral student at Northwestern University
Medical School, for her dissertation proposal Understanding mothers'
contribution to disorganized attachment: A behavioral analysis of mother-child
interaction in a naturalistic setting. Her dissertation sponsor is
John S. Lyons, PhD.

We wish the new recipients of the Research Fund awards--and all the
other students who submitted proposals for consideration--a timely and
successful completion of their dissertations. It should be of interest
to members of the Society that the current crop of dissertation proposals
submitted for consideration came from across the country. The Psychoanalytic
Research Fund's support of dissertations by these beginning investigators
is an exceedingly valuable activity of the Research Fund and the Division.
The Psychoanalytic Research Fund is the only funding source specifically
dedicated to supporting psychoanalytically-informed doctoral dissertation
research. The Fund's activity affords the Division national visibility
among university faculty and graduate students, many of whom are potential
members of Division 39. We extend our appreciation to the Division's Graduate
Student Committee for helping to publicize the Fund, and the Advisory Board
of the Psychoanalytic Research Fund, comprised of members from throughout
the Division who thoughtfully read and assessed the proposals. The members
of the Advisory Board are Robert Bornstein, Harold Cook, Gwendolyn Gerber,
Morris Eagle, Norbert Freedman, Joseph Masling, Joy Osofsky, George Stricker,
and Hans Strupp.

We are pleased that up to now the Division has played a significant
role in supporting these young researchers through the Psychoanalytic Research
Fund. In 1994 the Division made a committment to partially support the
Fund for five years. This year, ostensibly because of "financial considerations",
the Division Board entertained a formal motion to stop contributing to
the Fund for the last two years of its commitment (i.e., 1997 and 1998).
Fortunately, we prevailed upon board members to honor their original five-year
commitment to support this extremely important activity. However, in light
of the Board's attempt to withdraw support for the Fund, it seems judicious
that the Psychoanalytic Research Fund seek to become more financially independent.
To do this we need to develop a stable financial base. This could be achieved
in several ways--by a long-range fundraising campaign to establish a permanent
endowment, via an effort to get a philanthropic foundation to support the
Fund on a continuing basis, or perhaps through a modest dues assessment
for all Division 39 members that would be earmarked specifically for the
Psychoanalytic Research Fund. If you would like to participate in the ongoing
effort to help the Fund become more self-sufficient by contributing ideas,
expertise, fundraising skills and/or money, please contact me or any other
member of the Psychoanalytic Research Society Board.

Now I'd like to draw your attention to the upcoming Division 39 Spring
Meeting, April 17-21 in New York, where we are sponsoring a symposium entitled
"Varieties of Unconscious and Conscious Experience". Matthew
Erdelyi and David Rosenthal will each present a paper, and Morris Eagle
will be the discussant. The symposium will take place at 3 PM on Saturday,
April 20th in the Jade Room of the Waldorf-Astoria, and it promises to
be evocative and informative. We will hear about some interesting empirical
research from Matthew Erdelyi--whose work many of you are familiar with--and
we'll have an unusual opportunity to be philosophically enlightened by
David Rosenthal, Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department of
Cognitive Sciences at City University's Graduate Center. Dr. Rosenthal
has written extensively on unconscious and conscious mental activity. I'm
sure you'll want to attend this session. Once again, I know you won't want
to miss the biggest hit of the conference--our Social Tea on Friday, April
19th, from 3 to 4:50 PM in the Waldorf-Astoria's Hoover Suite. I look forward
to seeing you at both events.

I am also pleased to let you know that I have made arrangements to have
the Research Society's activities available to a much wider audience. We
now have a site on the World Wide Web, which may be accessed at the following
address: http://odysseus.tc.columbia.edu/prs/. We'll use this web site
to keep Society members and others updated on Psychoanalytic Research Society
activities. This issue of the Bulletin, as well as all past issues, and
links to other sites of interest, are also available on-line at the site.
Anyone with internet access can reach our new web site, and it will be
interesting to see the impact that this new technology has on the development
of the Society.

Finally, elections for Section VI officers will be completed by the
time you receive this issue of the Bulletin. Unfortunately, since the issue
went to press prior to tabulation of the election results, I am unable
to announce the names of the newly-elected officers. I'm sure the incoming
officers will want to do everything they can to make you feel a part of
our organization. They and I encourage you to get actively involved. For
example, you can participate in one of the existing committees by contacting
the appropriate committee chair. If you'd like to propose a new committee
or task force, please get in touch with any of the Psychoanalytic Research
Society Board members. You can also communicate your interest by writing
to the editor of the Bulletin. The Society will also do everything it can
to assist people who are interested in establishing a local research chapter
in their community. We could provide a modicum of support for a scientific
meeting that you might be contemplating organizing.

For those of you who may have missed it, please read the November 1995
issue of Consumer Reports, and Martin Seligman's article in the
December 1995 American Psychologist. Both articles describe an important
research contribution regarding the effectiveness of long-term treatment,
as well as the methodological issues involved in psychotherapy effectiveness
and efficacy studies. You should also become informed of the APA's Board
of Professional Affairs position on the use of "scientifically validated"
assessment and treatment. Their proposal is likely to have an unfortunate
impact on the reimbursement policies of managed care companies regarding
needed long-term treatment, as well as on the accreditation criteria of
predoctoral clinical psychology training programs. The January 1996 issue
of the Psychologist-Psychoanalyst has an insightful discussion of
the issues involved in this controversy. Both featured articles in this
issue of the Bulletin also discuss the inteface of psychoanalytic treatment
and research findings, and the impact of managed care on this already-
tenuous relationship.

Thanks to Jeanne Hedstrom for her intriguing drawing. It adds a special
flavor and panache to our Bulletin. If you haven't yet renewed your membership--or
if you want to become a member--see the membership form which appears elsewhere
in the issue. Please also encourage interested colleagues to become members.